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Many historians today think that the story of
Plummer
and his gang was fabricated to cover up the real lawlessness in the
Montana
Territory - the
vigilantes themselves.
By May, 1864, Sidney
Edgerton, the territorial Chief Justice decided there were so many
people in the area that they needed a new territory. Edgerton
convinced the president and on May 26, 1864, it was made official,
with Edgerton as the governor.
Bannack
became the first territorial capital and the Legislature of
Montana
met in Sidney Edgerton’s cabin.
In the summer of 1864
the numbers of school age children had increased dramatically and the
Edgerton home could no longer accommodate the classes. A
crude log cabin was built to serve as school teacher, Lucia Darling's
school house.
By the fall of 1864, nearly ten thousand
people crowded along the area hillsides, living in tents, shacks,
lean-tos, and eventually sturdier housing. Settlements were so
numerous and scattered that people called the area the "fourteen-mile
city." But, for these thousands of people, the gold was already
getting harder to find.
By 1866,
Virginia City
in Alder Gulch was large enough to take the title of territorial
capital from
Bannack,
where it remained until 1877 before permanently moving to Helena.
In the meantime the
vigilantes continued their antics
and three years after Sheriff
Plummer
was hanged, the
vigilantes virtually
ruled the mining districts. Finally, leading citizens of
Montana,
including Territorial Governor Thomas Meagher, began to speak out
against the ruthless group. In March, 1867, the miners issued their
own warning that if the
vigilantes hanged any more people, the "law
abiding citizens" would retaliate "five for one." Though a few
more lynchings occurred, the era of the
vigilantes was past.
By 1870, there were no more easy diggings in
Bannack
and within just a couple of years, the population of
Bannack
shrank to a just a few hundred.
In 1874, realizing the need for a
school, Bannack Masonic Lodge No. 16 built the combination lodge and
school house. Classes would be held in this building for nearly 70
years.
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